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After much deliberation and with heavy hearts the Executive of EFSA Ireland have unfortunately been forced into the decision that the 2020 Shore Championships scheduled for October in Wexford must be cancelled. This has come about due to several occurrences including the cancellation of the Dublin City Marathon planned for the same week and the Government advisory that non residents entering the country will/may be required to self isolate for 14 days effective until the end of the year.

EFSA Ireland will endeavour to run the event in 2021. Information on this will be advised as soon as it is available.

Each of you will, at this point, have felt the effects in one form or another, of the global pandemic Covid-19 virus.

Thankfully for many the consequences of the virus has meant nothing more than the inconvenience of having to stay at home in isolation but for others it has been a much more serious occurrence with family members falling seriously ill or even dying.

And whilst some countries have begun to ease their imposed restrictions, the World Health Organization (WHO) are asking all nations to be cautious as the infection rate, and possible re-infection rate, still remain unclear at this point in time.

We in EFSA have a responsibility, not just to our own members, but to the economies of the communities in the towns and villages who are kind enough to offer to host our international events every year and it would be remiss of us to put the livelihoods, indeed the very lives, of these people at risk – for the sake of, despite how much we love it, what is basically just a sport.

Therefore it is with a heavy heart, but in the knowledge that we are ‘doing the right thing’, that the decision has been taken at EFSA Executive level, to abandon all planned Boat Championships (including those in Denmark and England) for the rest of this year.

Hopefully by 2021 all will be well once again and we can look forward to our annual events in which the spirit of EFSA shines through as comradeship always outweighs competitiveness – but our events also always include the essential element of friendly rivalry between nations and individuals.

Regarding the European Boat Championships from the 10th to the 14th of August 2020!
The Danish delegation has decided, as a result of the Corona/Covid19 situation, to change the closing date for receipt of entries from May 1th to June 1th. This decision has been made to give participants a better opportunity to plan their trip, depending on how the situation evolves over the next period of time. The new closing date includes both entry to the Championships and booking of the hotel.

Welcome to 2020! I hope all of you and your anglers have had a good start to the year.

This e-mail is just a reminder of what this year has in stock for us – please share and spread the word.

It all kicks off on April 25 with our Standing Committee meeting at the Copthorne Hotel London Gatwick, Copthorne Way, Copthorne, West Sussex, RH10 3PG, United Kingdom (tel +44 20 3966 8654). Delegates are required to book their accommodation themselves. HQ will meet on the Friday evening before the SC.

EFSA Netherlands run the European Big Game Championships – May 11th – 14th 2020, Cape Verde, Mindelo. 18 teams have entered the 2020 event – 3 teams in reserve. It looks like going to be a top class championship!

The 2020 EFSA European Species will now be for Black Bream out of Weymouth, England, on 18th and 19th September, the boats are all booked and arrangements are under way. Brochure to be available by mid-February. It will be sent electronically to all sections as well as being made available on the EFSA England and EFSA HQ websites.

Our EFSA Shore championships are going to bring us back to Ireland to Kilmuckridge, Ireland 28/10 – 31/10/2020. Brochure to be finalised and distributed by the end of January. For those of you on Facebook Warren has published an early draft there in the group ‘EFSA’.

A quick peek into 2021:

Jigging Festival 19th to 23rd March 2021 Portugal

Iceland Boat Species 2021 20th May to 22nd May

Section Portugal Algarve, Portugal 2021

Cobh, Ireland, 2nd or 3rd week of September

As you can see there is a lot going on in EFSA and it would be great if you and your sections could support all of these events!

As per the brochure there will be a 2 day Line Class event within the Boat Championship. The line supplied in the registration pack will be 250 yds of 30lb braid not 35lb as stated in the brochure and will be available from Weymouth Angling Centre from 3rd September. As we will be fishing for conger and ray, barbless or crushed barb hooks must be used, as requested by the boat skippers. Line Class rule 4 prohibits pirks and lead heads, however, a pirk or hook up lead can be used as a weight with a barbless hook attached directly to it or a trace of maximum 30cm below it. The pirk or hook up lead must have at least a 90cm length of line of 150lb minimum breaking strain tied directly above it to enable the skippers to grip the line and release fish at the side of the boat.

The boat draw has been done but this will not be circulated until the event, to prevent the anglers inundating the skippers with questions so wasting a lot of their time.

These pictures show EFSA President Horst Schneider and his two grandsons wearing brand new garments with our newly designed EFSA Logos: the summer dress shirt along with casual T-shirts (black or white).

On May 11th EFSA Germany held their AGM in the city of Nierstein along the river Rhein.
Apart from the usual agenda items one of our well known anglers, Dietmar Grassau, received a memento for 25 years of membership in EFSA. Our heartfelt congratulations went to Dietmar and we are all looking forward to the next 25 years!
In the elections our secretary Detlef Schmidt, our treasurer, Detlef Herms and the Standing Committee delegate, Marcus Wuest, were all re-elected. Many thanks for their continued service for EFSA Germany!
Our next big event is hosting this year’s EFSA European Species Championships in Langeland for which we have 82 anglers registered.
Hopefully we will be seeing many of known and new faces there!